The establishment of the 'new open method of co-ordination' ('new OMC') in the area of 'social inclusion' will be used as the empirical example, which can explain why Scharpf changed his judgment in relation to the classification of the OMC from 2000 to 2002. Thus, it will be stressed that Scharpfs 'modes of Europeanization' cannot cover the new modes of governance in the social realm of the EU. Accordingly, research perspectives will be elaborated which may lead towards a more precise classification of the 'new OMC' in terms of the perspective of European integration theories.